BOWL PROJECTIONS --- ESPN

by **rogershealy** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 7:43 am

I don't know if my liver can take another New Orleans weekend.
Can we play in like Delware, or something?

by **ponyte** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 7:54 am

If we go 6-6 the best we can hope for is that we have HDTV while we watch other teams play. This team is better than 6-6. We need to go 8-4 to have any real possibility of playing in a bowl. Two decades of pitiful performances have to be overcome and that means we have to be good and not on the bubble.

by **perunapower** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 7:59 am

ponyte wrote:If we go 6-6 the best we can hope for is that we have HDTV while we watch other teams play. This team is better than 6-6. We need to go 8-4 to have any real possibility of playing in a bowl. Two decades of pitiful performances have to be overcome and that means we have to be good and not on the bubble.

Are you serious? We have to go 8-4 for a bowl game? I don't know what conference you think we're in, but 6-6 may get us in, 7-5 will definitely. I would love to go 8-4, but I don't think we need to get there for an real possibility (unless we're talking about the C-USA championship).

by **ponyte** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:37 am

Currently
Tulsa 5-1
Southern Miss 4-2
UTEP 4-2
UH 4-3
SMU 4-3
UAB 3-4

CUSA has 4 bowl tie ends. SMU is fighting for that 4th position at this point. We play 3 teams that are in the bowl hunt for CUSA so in that regard we have our destiny in our hands. If anyone thinks that 2 wins in the next five games keeps us competitive with UH and UAB for that 4th bowl position, please reconsider. UAB plays in what appears to be a very weak East. 8-4 makes us attractive to many bowls and garners interest in the viewing audience. 6-6 gets us a borderline bowl (assuming we beat out UH and UAB) with minimal TV audience and virtually no national exposure.

If squeaking into a bowl is the goal, then 6-6 in the minor league of minor league bowls may happen. If going to a bowl and using it to help in recruiting and project success is the goal , then 9-3 is excellent and 8- and 4 is the minimum.

It just depends on what the goals are.

by **abezontar** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:53 am

I thought there were five bowl tie-ins

by **mustangfan01** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:57 am

bowl in new orleans
bowl in memphis
bowl in fort worth
bowl in mobile
bowl in birmingham

5 bowls.

by **SmooBoy** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:15 am

In all honesty the Armed Forces Bowl against TCU would be very cool. We would be able to bring a few fans (3K-4K versus 400 max anywhere else) to our first bowl game in 20 years and build some much needed momentum for a better bowl next year.

by **jtstang** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:23 am

SmooBoy wrote:In all honesty the Armed Forces Bowl against TCU would be very cool. We would be able to bring a few fans (3K-4K versus 400 max anywhere else) to our first bowl game in 20 years and build some much needed momentum for a better bowl next year.

Last time we played in FW we lost 44-0 in front of about 1000 SMU fans. We do not travel well, even just across town.

by **BRStang** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:26 am

jtstang wrote:
SmooBoy wrote:In all honesty the Armed Forces Bowl against TCU would be very cool. We would be able to bring a few fans (3K-4K versus 400 max anywhere else) to our first bowl game in 20 years and build some much needed momentum for a better bowl next year.

Last time we played in FW we lost 44-0 in front of about 1000 SMU fans. We do not travel well, even just across town.

I think that's just because no one from SMU wants to go watch a football game in a place that reminds them of an Iraqi prison.

by **SmooBoy** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:29 am

jtstang wrote:
SmooBoy wrote:In all honesty the Armed Forces Bowl against TCU would be very cool. We would be able to bring a few fans (3K-4K versus 400 max anywhere else) to our first bowl game in 20 years and build some much needed momentum for a better bowl next year.

Last time we played in FW we lost 44-0 in front of about 1000 SMU fans. We do not travel well, even just across town.

True, but this is a much different team and that was not a bowl game. I think we would bring a few more out for a meaningful December football game.

When we sniffed a possible winning record and bowl eligibility back in the 1997 debacle at Amon Carter, we brought at least 2,500.

by **jtstang** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:29 am

BRStang wrote:I think that's just because no one from SMU wants to go watch a football game in a place that reminds them of an Iraqi prison.

Yeah, you have to wonder what they were thinking when they decided to go with the early-factory style of architecture.

by **BRStang** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:35 am

jtstang wrote:
BRStang wrote:I think that's just because no one from SMU wants to go watch a football game in a place that reminds them of an Iraqi prison.

Yeah, you have to wonder what they were thinking when they decided to go with the early-factory style of architecture.

Probably trying to get their students comfortable with their lives after graduation--as factory workers.

by **BrianTinBigD** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:55 am

abezontar wrote:I thought there were five bowl tie-ins

You are correct. Here they are:

New Orleans Bowl
Birmingham Bowl
Armed Forces Bowl
Liberty
GMAC

Texas Bowl has the right to select CUSA or Big East Opponent to play a Big 12 spare. Pitt, Louisville, Rutgers, West Virginia, and S. Florida are all locks to get a bowl bid. The Big East champ gets a BCS bowl and maybe even a 2nd team might as well. They are stacked at the top this year. There are no other Big East teams that will go to a bowl. They have rights to:

Birmingham - shared with the MAC
Texas - shared with CUSA
Sun - Shared with Big 12 or ND
Meineke Car Care - Shared with Navy but looks like Navy gets the bid.
Gator - Shared with Big 12
International - all theirs
BCS - guaranteed

There is a decent chance that the Big East takes all 5 slots given to them before the Texas Bowl. It is a small payout bowl but better than the pathetic payout that is the Birmingham or New Orleans bowl.

We get 6 wins and we may just get a trip to Ft. Worth, 7 and it is a lock. This is the bowl we want. No travel costs and the payout is as high as any of the other bowls besides the Liberty.

by **MustangStealth** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:58 am

Notre Dame is also considered a Big East team as far as bowls are concerned. If they don't make the BCS, then the bowls affiliated with the Big East are allowed to include Notre Dame in their selection pool.

by **Stallion** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:03 am

I wouldn't be surprised if CUSA stepped in and placed SMU somewhere else. Two things Bowls don't want:
1.Rematches
2. A team playing its second game in the Host City.

SMU is unlikely to play in New Orleans again this year.

BOWL PROJECTIONS --- ESPN

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